


How wolf-hearted a man

by Keenir



Category: Once Upon a Time (2011)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-01-02
Updated: 2012-01-02
Packaged: 2017-10-28 17:26:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,146
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/310286
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Keenir/pseuds/Keenir
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The tale of the Huntsman and his brother.</p><p>(coda to "the heart is a lonely hunter")</p>
            </blockquote>





	How wolf-hearted a man

**Author's Note:**

> Author's Note: I'll be following the example of the tag system at Onceupon_fanfic, with "Universe: Enchanted" and "Universe: Earth". Most of this takes place in Enchanted, but there's a key event which can only be Earth.  
> Author's Note: The Huntsman was raised by wolves...now granted that's not the rarest of events in the tales of old, but still.
> 
>  **~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**   
> 
> 
>   
> _"I was also looking for...a man who could unite the kingdoms." -King Midas._   
> 

**ENCHANTED:**

The wolf pack roamed the forest, thirst foremost on its mind. A full day after last eating, they came upon a river which was two elk-lengths broad and none of the pack could see where the water's source or destination were, so long was the water.

The pack stopped before they got too close to the water, but the two little boys in their company did not stop. Only the growling of wolves stopped them from dipping their hands or mouths to the water. But by then it was too late.

Each boy's throat was grabbed by a hand that lifted them off the ground. The hands' owner also rose, water dripping off her alabaster body.

She looked human. But the wolves knew better; that was why they didn't get too close.

She ignored the frenzied barkings and growlings of the boys' pack. She smiled at how the boys were baring their front teeth at her, trying to growl even with her grip on them. "So much energy. So much heart," she said.

Some of the wolves at the rear of the pack began to howl for assistance from other packs.

With a glare from her, Nixie muted those animals. "Naughty," Nixie said. To the boys, "They care. They have heart too. And perhaps that should be all. Yes, that is a clever thing," smiling at them.

Both boys went silent at the sight, quivering. Neither wished to smile at someone who could eat a crocodile.

"So it shall be," Nixie said. "One heart. And," casually tossing them on their backs on the ground, "learn to talk."

Both boys tried to take large lungfulls of air to recover, and gibberish emerged.

"Listen to your friends, boys. I tell you that for free," Nixie said.

The pack retreated, with the boys on the periphery of the pack now.

Nixie watched them leave.

"Was that strictly neccessary?" came the question from behind her.

Nixie studied the question, felt it come from on the top of the ridge just inches short of the point where the ground dropped ten feet into her river. "Strictly, Rumplestiltskin?" she asked.

"That is what I asked," he replied, avoiding the question.

"It was what I felt should be done."

"And how can you extract a price from wolves?"

"Wolves never whine about unfairness. They never attempt to weasel out of their debt," Nixie said.

"And the boys?"

"Raised by wolves."

Rumplestiltskin sighed. "Just when I think you're done being foolish...this happens."

"Care to bet?" she challenged him, still without turning to face him.

"Hm, tempting. No. Far more satisfying to watch. More interesting. Still, I'll consider betting later."

"Done."

 **~~**

Years passed.

The pack prospered, the two boys among them. In time, the pack became the guardians of a mountainside of farmers, preying upon anything that dared to venture towards the succulent crops. In return for wolf guardianship, the farmers acceeded to the wolves being the ones in charge - with the boys as intermediaries.

Then one day came something with backwards tracks, a creature which twisted and ripped away human heads. A Mapinguari.

Once it was defeated, killed, and gutted, one of the boys turned to the other in anger. That one was Romulus. "It is your fault!"

His brother acknowledged that point. _I wanted us to do this as a family,_ thought the brother.

 _We never argued before that water-thing cursed us with language,_ Romulus and his brother both thought. "Go!" Romulus ordered him.

"Shouldn't I stay? You're right - we've lost enough."

"You are the reason so many have perished against the Mapinguari. Our family is nearly extinct because of your insistence."

"We hunt together, we always hunt together."

"For food," Romulus said. "The Mapinguari is an inedible danger. There are things we must do without our family - and that was one of them."

"I can't believe that."

Romulus charged at him, jaw parted in a silent roar. Romulus brought his brother up against a tree, a stone blade at his throat. "Were you neither my brother nor my family, I would kill you where you stand, and leave you for the vultures. Go."

"Am I to be dead?" he asked Romulus.

"Live," Romulus decreed. "But not near us. Not for years, at least."

 _I can live with that. I'll have to,_ he thought. "To the day we meet again, then," he said as he departed, watched by Romulus and what little remained of the pack.

Only one went with the brother: a wolf with two-colored eyes.

 **~~**

Two years passed.

The eyes of King Midas fell upon the mountainside, and he sent envoys offering a rich reward in exchange for coming under his rule. Romulus sent all of them back, with their gifts. But there is only so long one can resist when all those under you are clamoring at you to comply.

So Romulus requested a meet - he and Midas, who brought one guard to bring into the meeting room, while Romulus had three guards and a wolf.

"Have you changed your mind?" Midas asked, standing in the middle of a small circle Romulus had drawn around his feet.

"No," Romulus said. "But I acknowledge defeat, conditionally."

"Is that the reason for this?" gesturing down towards the circle.

"It is."

"And should I leave the circle before answering?" Midas asked, curious how the young man planned to threaten him.

"I will rip out your throat. Yes, I know of your talent, King Midas. But if it afflicts me in my attack, you die as well."

"I will hear your condition."

"Permit me my retirement. I will hunt in the woods as before. I have given you the corpse of the Mapinguari. You will rule the cities."

"That is all you ask for?" Midas asked.

"I am known to people. I care for that more than for " Romulus started to say when he collapsed to the ground, weakly able to do little more than push himself to his ands and knees.

The guards started to come to his aid, stopped only by his growling out a, "Halt."

"A curious development," Midas said.

"It does not afflict our agreement, Midas," Romulus stated, standing on his knees. "Only, should you encounter someone who looks like me, be wary. For something has become of him."

 **!~~!**   
**EARTH:**

 _Thomas Kaiser was leaving the construction site with every intent of heading home, when he collapsed just short of the sidewalk._

 _All of his awareness focused on the crushing agony within his chest. A focus that lasted until he was no longer aware._

 _As they loaded him into the ambulance, he could hear one of the medics confiding to him that, "You'll be okay, Mr. Kaiser. Your heart started to give out, but we're going to make sure you're okay."_

 _And Thomas dimly heard that there had been something just like this at the Sheriff's office just now._


End file.
